


to be more than pure light that burns where no one is—

by sapphfics



Category: X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble, F/F, Fix-It, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Resurrection, Reunions, Wives, whilst charles and erik are present they don’t talk sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22947676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphfics/pseuds/sapphfics
Summary: They bring Irene back.
Relationships: Irene Adler (X-Men)/Raven | Mystique
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	to be more than pure light that burns where no one is—

**Author's Note:**

  * For [easy2find](https://archiveofourown.org/users/easy2find/gifts).



> for [dov](https://twitter.com/dykeromanov), my fellow weekly xmen sufferer! ilysm <3333
> 
> title is a mary oliver quote.

Let it never be said that Mystique is doing any of this to seek atonement from Charles or Erik.

(And she knows, in the back of her mind, that this is the legacy she will leave, the stories children will tell around the campfire of the traitor turned hero Mystique who helped their leaders in their time of need. She supposes there are worse things they could say of her, knowing exactly what they whisper about poor Wanda Maximoff, but not much worse.) 

Besides, she doesn’t regret anything. And even if she did, she wouldn’t seek forgiveness from Charles, and Erik understands her in a way. Especially now. But they can think what they like of her motivations, of how far she must go before she has earned the right to life and love, of how many lives she has left. Moira had ten, or so she’s heard. Perhaps, she thinks scornfully, if she can bring herself to kiss Charles she will fare better in winning his favour. 

No. She will never stoop so low. 

She can’t even see Charles’ eyes anymore when he goes around wearing his stupid helmet, practically begging for someone to punch through the glass frame and rip out his eyes. Or maybe that’s just her bias. 

They do not tell her they are bringing Irene back immediately, so they can hold it over her head.

It takes months and she dies more times than she cares to remember, always on suicide missions, always wondering why they bothered to bring her back only to send her to die again. 

Perhaps it doesn’t drain Charles, as she assumes. 

Mystique is still unsure of how the whole resurrection process works - and she assumes that they want her to remain ignorant, lest she harness the power to the revolving door that is the spectre of death for mutants for her own means - but Charles has not changed her nature every time he brings her back, and he’s had multiple opportunities. 

So, she knows, he must not be able to. It gives her comfort, to know that he cannot change Irene’s heart. Or her own. 

After her twentieth regeneration, Mystique makes the ultimatum. “Bring back my wife, or I will burn Krakoa to the ground.” 

And they know by now that Mystique does not make idle threats. That she would and could do such a thing, all for Irené. Everything she’s done this far is for Irené. To see her again. 

They bring her to a private chamber to watch Irene crawl out from the pit. She looks just as beautiful as ever. 

Mystique can tell Charles is about to say something, so she calls, “To me, my Irené.” 

Charles frowns and Mystique smirks. She thinks Erik laughs, low and under his breath. 

Irene stands and Mystique runs to her. 

“You brought me back,” Irene says. “I knew you would, my wonderful wife.” 

“I never doubted I would see you again,” Mystique whispers and almost believes herself. She will not cry, not where Charles can see her. “My Irene.”

“My Raven,” Irene echoes, clutching her hand. “Let’s go home. We have a new diary entry to write.”

**Author's Note:**

> more x-men pairings i wanna write: ororo/jean, emma/wanda, kityana, sue storm/ororo, jean/emma (if i put them online i might actually do it at some point) 
> 
> come talk to me on [tumblr](https://sapphfics.tumblr.com/) or [twitter](https://twitter.com/lesbosansastark) if you feel so inclined! let’s be friends <333


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